Is a College Degree Really Worth it?

[TA9]

Reading this thread has really made me realize how "lucky" I am to be able to attend college (in Europe) without having to pay a penny (besides my books which cost me around 400 dollars per semester).
Personally I think it's ridiculous that they make you guys pay around 30.000 dollars for attending college..

[celticsclay]

Ha....why does everything always come back to the accountants???

We're not bad people!  I work on tax side as a CPA (busy season sucks but you know its coming) but I'm happy with it!

We're not all miserable people!

:vent over:

Guys lets move this to another thread before the accountant ruins everything for everyone.

[fairweatherfan]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

"Non-profit" doesn't mean they aren't trying to make money - it just means that they need to spend all the money they get on fancy new buildings and administration salaries.  Same basic racket as the NCAA; for all intents and purposes you're earnings millions and millions of dollars, but as long as you manage to spend it you get to keep your "tax-exempt" status.

Using that definition, what organization (that takes in $ from any source) wouldn't be considered "for-profit"?  Watering a term down to the point that it could apply to almost anything may help support some rhetorical point, but it doesn't really accomplish anything but stripping all meaning from the term. 

[fairweatherfan]

Reading this thread has really made me realize how "lucky" I am to be able to attend college (in Europe) without having to pay a penny (besides my books which cost me around 400 dollars per semester).
Personally I think it's ridiculous that they make you guys pay around 30.000 dollars for attending college..

I think you misspelled "please help me i am trapped in a socialist nightmare".

[TA9]

Reading this thread has really made me realize how "lucky" I am to be able to attend college (in Europe) without having to pay a penny (besides my books which cost me around 400 dollars per semester).
Personally I think it's ridiculous that they make you guys pay around 30.000 dollars for attending college..

I think you misspelled "please help me i am trapped in a socialist nightmare".

Nope I think that I got everything right. I like how things work over here

[Wretch]

List of unprofitable/financially foolish majors:

1. communications
2. history
3. English
4. political science
5. sociology
6. unless you want to be in the mental health field: psychology
7. visual art
8. music/music performance (including especially any kind of singing)
9. journalism
10. dance (of any kind - even knowing a lot about dance)

This isn't entirely true.  As stand alone degrees they will not typically lead directly to a vocation but as undergrad degrees designed to gain entry into post grad some of these have value. English, history and political science are all typical undergrad degrees that lawyers have.

[kozlodoev]

List of unprofitable/financially foolish majors:
...
3. English
4. political science

I was an English / Government double major, and haven't regretted it once.  Hell, if I could have fit in a third major in history, I would have done it.  Financially, I'm doing just fine. 

There's nothing wrong with pursuing a liberal arts degree if you know what you're going to do with it.  It can be "foolish" to major in just about anything, if you're not committed to it.  I know plenty of miserable accountants, and plenty of happy, successful folks with associate's degrees, or no degrees at all.

Let's face it, Roy -- that's because you went to law school afterwards

The case in point is that if you end up with a BA with no hard skills, you're probably a step behind the field. If you're going to grad school, your undergraduate degree is, to a large extent, immaterial. Or, I should rather say, Boolean -- you either have it or you don't.

[D.o.s.]

Ah Law School -- now there's a safe bet for debt accumulation in 2015.

[Roy H.]

Ah Law School -- now there's a safe bet for debt accumulation in 2015.

No doubt, and the number of people who go to law school because they don't know what else to do is astounding.  I think being an attorney is great, but a lot of my colleagues hate their lives (much less so in Maine than in New Jersey, though.)

The lesson:  before you spend tens (hundreds) of thousands of dollars on a career, make sure that you actually want to do that career for the rest of your life.

[boscel33]

Being an IT professional myself, I can say the Associates Degree is a great way to start, then get into the position and begin working on certifications.  Later, if management is the direction you're looking to go, you can go back to school (sometimes on the company dime) and get a Bachelor and then even a Master's. 

[fairweatherfan]

Reading this thread has really made me realize how "lucky" I am to be able to attend college (in Europe) without having to pay a penny (besides my books which cost me around 400 dollars per semester).
Personally I think it's ridiculous that they make you guys pay around 30.000 dollars for attending college..

I think you misspelled "please help me i am trapped in a socialist nightmare".

Nope I think that I got everything right. I like how things work over here

It might seem that way now, but how will you ever get to taste the sweet freedom of owing a bank 6 figures before you get your first paycheck? 

(this is very tongue-in-cheek in case that's not coming across)

[kozlodoev]

Reading this thread has really made me realize how "lucky" I am to be able to attend college (in Europe) without having to pay a penny (besides my books which cost me around 400 dollars per semester).
Personally I think it's ridiculous that they make you guys pay around 30.000 dollars for attending college..

I think you misspelled "please help me i am trapped in a socialist nightmare".

Nope I think that I got everything right. I like how things work over here

It might seem that way now, but how will you ever get to taste the sweet freedom of owing a bank 6 figures before you get your first paycheck?

I think you misspelled "trickle-down economics"

[Moranis]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

"Non-profit" doesn't mean they aren't trying to make money - it just means that they need to spend all the money they get on fancy new buildings and administration salaries.  Same basic racket as the NCAA; for all intents and purposes you're earnings millions and millions of dollars, but as long as you manage to spend it you get to keep your "tax-exempt" status.

Using that definition, what organization (that takes in $ from any source) wouldn't be considered "for-profit"?  Watering a term down to the point that it could apply to almost anything may help support some rhetorical point, but it doesn't really accomplish anything but stripping all meaning from the term.

Universities aren't charities and they aren't in the business of losing money.  They just raise tuition prices to cover their costs and in years where they have extra money they spend it.  The goal of a university is in fact to make as much money as possible and the way to best do that is to get the best students.  You see those are the people that will make the most money and give it back to you, will have the best jobs and push other "best" students to your school, etc.  With more money you hire better faculty, have better facilities and perks, etc. all of which is designed to get the best students and more of them. 

Universities are about making money just like every other business out there.  They just don't have share holders to keep the money they make and are required to spend it. 

[TA9]

Reading this thread has really made me realize how "lucky" I am to be able to attend college (in Europe) without having to pay a penny (besides my books which cost me around 400 dollars per semester).
Personally I think it's ridiculous that they make you guys pay around 30.000 dollars for attending college..

I think you misspelled "please help me i am trapped in a socialist nightmare".

Nope I think that I got everything right. I like how things work over here

It might seem that way now, but how will you ever get to taste the sweet freedom of owing a bank 6 figures before you get your first paycheck? 

(this is very tongue-in-cheek in case that's not coming across)

Haha i like that one TP!

[fairweatherfan]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

"Non-profit" doesn't mean they aren't trying to make money - it just means that they need to spend all the money they get on fancy new buildings and administration salaries.  Same basic racket as the NCAA; for all intents and purposes you're earnings millions and millions of dollars, but as long as you manage to spend it you get to keep your "tax-exempt" status.

Using that definition, what organization (that takes in $ from any source) wouldn't be considered "for-profit"?  Watering a term down to the point that it could apply to almost anything may help support some rhetorical point, but it doesn't really accomplish anything but stripping all meaning from the term.

Universities aren't charities and they aren't in the business of losing money.  They just raise tuition prices to cover their costs and in years where they have extra money they spend it.  The goal of a university is in fact to make as much money as possible and the way to best do that is to get the best students.  You see those are the people that will make the most money and give it back to you, will have the best jobs and push other "best" students to your school, etc.  With more money you hire better faculty, have better facilities and perks, etc. all of which is designed to get the best students and more of them. 

Universities are about making money just like every other business out there.  They just don't have share holders to keep the money they make and are required to spend it.

No, it flatly is not.  If you have any links to non-profit university charters or mission statements saying so I'm all ears, but I have worked in universities and colleges my entire career and not once have I heard anyone at any level state or imply such a thing in any capacity. 

Funding is treated as an essential means to the university's goals, and there are a lot of mixed feelings about the implications of that, but money for money's sake is never the goal itself.   As expensive as higher education has become, most institutions could absolutely still make more money or more "profit" if that was their only priority.  I don't know if you're projecting your own value system or just making a cynical reading of their motivations, but what you're saying is not a sentiment shared by the vast majority of people who run and work in these institutions.